The Pursuit of happiness
by Gwyndolyn Slim
Summary: Working three jobs, cooped up in a library, and working on his latest science project that will make him well known in the field of science, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru are hard at work trying to gain their pursuit of happiness. JiraOro.


A/N: New fic. This time it's dealing with the Sanin. I love the Sanin, but I hate the fact that not a lot of people write about them on . Well, I'm sure they do, but with pairings like OroSasu, TsuSaku, or JiraNaru. Stuff like that. I've seen the JiraOro section and became depressed when I found out that not a lot of people write about them. So, I've decided to make a story for the pairing that would be, JiraOro. None just yet, maybe a bit later in the story.

Jiraiya wondered just how long his friend, Orochimaru, could stay in a laboratory. He's been down there for almost the past week, and hasn't come home since then. Tsunade (Jiraiya) was really beginning to worry over the pale man's health. Whenever he comes home, or chooses to come home, he's always so pale you can see the veins in his face, he has bags under his eyes, or dark rings, evidence of his lack of sleep. Once, Jiraiya went down to the laboratory that Orochimaru spent tedious hours at and hauled the snake like man, kicking and screaming. Tsunade forced food down his throat, and locked him in his room for eight hours to make sure he got a good night's rest. It was then, in the morning when they went to wake him up, that they had neglected to lock the windows as well, because one of them was opened, letting in a slight breeze, and the blankets, sheets, and curtains had been used as a rope. The mattress was also missing from it's frame, Orochimaru had used it as a means to cushion his fall when his makeshift rope couldn't reach down to the ground.

"Jiraiya, why do you think Orochimaru is spending so much time cooped up inside that stupid lab?" The blonde haired hazel eyed woman, Tsunade, said.

"He said he was almost at a break through when he phoned home not too long ago," He said as he set the table for supper, "Maybe he just needs to concentrate or something."

"I know he has to concentrate, Jiraiya, it's just that I worry about his health and his wellbeing. Remember what the doctor told us when we took him to the hospital three months ago? He needs to take it easy and eat and rest more. Bathing wouldn't be bad idea either!" Tsunade tasted the stew she had made, satisfied, she grabbed one of the bowls that Jiraiya had handed to her and filled it with the steamy dinner.

Jiraiya stirred his stew, before swallowing a spoon full of beef, broth, vegetables, and potato, "Wow, this is really good Tsunade."

"Thank you." She said, sitting down with her own bowl of supper.

The sound of slurping and the clanking of spoons hitting bowls were heard for the next twenty minutes. The small apartment that Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru lived in was filled with books, most of them Tsunade and Orochimaru's school text books, a refrigerator, a small table, meant for four, chairs, two bedrooms, and a small bathroom. Tsunade usually slept in one room by herself while Orochimaru and Jiraiya slept side by side in the other room. She said it was best for her because she was a female and her periods were irregular. Since waking up to blood stains was not something neither of the boys wanted to experience, they decided to just sleep in the same room, it was less hazardous that way.

The door opened, revealing a pale as snow man with long black hair (that desperately needed a wash) tied into a high pony tail. He was carrying his messenger bag and his backpack, filled to the brim with important and unimportant documents and folders. He plopped them both down on the side of the door, next to Tsunade's bag and purse along with Jiraiya's school bag.

"Sorry I'm late, what's for dinner?" He said as he sat down at the table, taking off his lab coat and tossing it over a pile of text books that Jiraiya failed to clean up earlier.

Tsunade brightened up at Orochimaru's appearance, almost dashing to the stove with a bowl in her hand to get him some supper. He needed it, he was skinny and cold looking.

"Stew is for dinner," she said, putting down the bowl of steamy liquid filled with meats and vegetables.

Orochimaru breathed in the aroma, then dug into it, not caring that is was now a bit cold.

"So, Oro, what have you been up to? I haven't seen you since last Saturday, and it's Friday." Jiraiya said, gulping down the last of his stew.

"Well, my lab team and I have finally made a break through," he said, still filling his mouth with stew, "But, they told me to take the week off because I've been working so hard."

Jiraiya and Tsunade beamed at that, Orochimaru being home for more than a night, that certainly was a nice thing.

"That's great, Oro! Maybe with some time home you can collect yourself and be more refreshed." Tsunade said, smiling from ear to ear.

Orochimaru held out his bowl, mutely saying that he wanted another bowl, Tsunade happily obliged. "I don't want a day off, I want to see this project to the end." He gulped a spoon fill of stew, "They're probably are going to work increasingly hard this next week, just to see if their findings are positive. They'll take all of the credit for the work, leaving me out of the equation." he finished his bowl like he would a bowl of cereal. "May I have some more?"

Tsunade took the bowl and filled it up with more stew, he must be hungry.

"They can't do that to you Oro," Jiraiya said, getting a bit angry with what he was hearing, "You're the reason why they even came made a break through, without you, they'd still be scratching their heads or running around like headless chickens!"

"That's exactly what I think," he drank more stew, "This is heavenly, Tsunade." He was scraping the bits of meat and potato into his mouth.

"Thank you." She said, staring at Orochimaru with wonder. He never really knew his limit or when to give up on this silly science experiment. He barely comes home, and whenever he does, it's to sleep for a few hours, shower, and grab a bite to eat. Tsunade was the same with her medical studies, staying at the library at odd hours at night, or until the librarian had to close up for the night. Jiraiya would often times spend countless hours in the library with Tsunade, but to work on his novels or English notes. They were all very dedicated students, and loved the fields that they worked in, even though it was time consuming, draining, and often times they wouldn't be home.

"Let's go to the park tomorrow," Tsunade said, as if experiencing an epiphany "Tomorrow is Saturday, let's go to the park."

Orochimaru and Jiraiya looked at each other, before looking at the blonde haired woman. Tomorrow was Saturday, they should go to the park, like they did back when they were in senior high. Back when they didn't have to spend countless hours cooped up inside of a laboratory or a library. Coming home with bags or dark rings under their eyes, only falling asleep for an hour just so they can have enough energy to move the next three hours from then. Back when they were in high school, everything was so much simpler. Now that they're in the "real world", they can never go back to their simpler world.

"Yes, let's go to the park tomorrow." Orochimaru agreed.

"Yeah, the park," Jiraiya smiled, "Hey, remember when we were in high school, and we played Frisbee?"

Tsunade laughed, "Yeah! Orochimaru caught it and then fell flat on his face."

The two boisterous young adults laughed out loud while Orochimaru settled for chuckling, remembering the embarrassing but funny moment that happened in his earlier years.

"Or when that man tried to flirt with Tsunade," Orochimaru pointed out

"Oh yeah, that blue haired guy! What was his name, David, Donald-"

"His name, is Dan, dumb ass!" Tsunade said, bonking both the males on top of the head "And for your information, he's the nicest guy I've ever met!"

The two young males looked at each other, before laughing at her.

Oro! Don't make fun of Dan," Jiraiya said in his best Tsunade impression, which sounded like a drunken crack whore, "he's the nicest, sweetest guy I've ever met!"

Tsunade punched him on the head, face flustered, "Shut up, Jiraiya! You don't know anything about Dan!"

"You know him well enough…" Orochimaru mumbled while drinking his water.

"What was that, Oro!"

"Nothing, Tsunade." He said, eyeing her balled up fist. He did not want her monstrous strength to be turned on him.

They all sighed, relishing in their memories of their younger days, as if it were such a long time ago. They were only twenty seven. They weren't as young as they used to though, is the point they're trying to make. Orochimaru looks to be in his mid thirties instead of mid twenties. Jiraiya's normal white hair was looking a bit grey, and Tsunade had a couple bags underneath her eyes. All in the name of good honest work, trying to achieve their long goals of becoming the best that they can be in their field. Orochimaru was always a scientist at heart, toying and tinkering around with science kits when he was a child. Tsunade always wanted to be a doctor, insisting that Orochimaru and Jiraiya be her patients and wrapping them up in gauze and making them look like mummies. Jiraiya was honestly a pervert, but had a brilliant mind. He had already achieved pieces of his goal; obtaining a literature and English degree, now all he needed was an agent, a publishing company, an editor, etc. which all came down to the current problem at hand; money.

Working three jobs, he struggles to make ends meet for their tiny three room apartment. Maybe when Tsunade and Orochimaru aren't working so hard on their own pursuits of happiness, they'd move into a better apartment.

"Sarutobi-sensei called today," Tsunade said again, breaking the silence.

"About what?" Orochimaru and Jiraiya said in unison.

"He wanted to know how we were fairing and if we needed anything."

Jiraiya sucked his teeth, "A couple hundred dollars would be nice."

Tsunade punched his leg, "We're not going to tell him about this, Jiraiya! We don't need him worrying over us! We're adults, we can manage!"

Jiraiya rolled his eyes, Orochimaru let his hair down, he really needed a bath. "I'm going to take a bath, do we have any hot water?"

"Yeah. When you're done don't let it go out in the drainer. We can boil it and use it as bathing water." Tsunade told Orochimaru's retreating back.

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind."

Ten minutes after Orochimaru had left the room, Tsunade decided to go to the Library and do a bit of studying, which left Jiraiya with a currently occupied Orochimaru.

Jiraiya didn't really know what else to do. He had gotten the weekend off almost simultaneously from all three of his jobs, The shoe store, McDonalds, and the local cinema. If he wasn't at work, he wasn't doing much else. Aside from writing whatever came to his mind whenever he had a spare moment. Jiraiya was never used to being alone, he was too used to having Tsunade and Orochimaru around to bother and pester. Him being alone really unsettled him, just the thought of it made him a bit uncomfortable.

The phone rang, interrupting his thoughts. He almost laughed when it did, he didn't know how he could afford the phone bill. He walked into Tsunade's room where the phone was located.

"Hello?" Jiraiya said

"Jiraiya! I'm glad you picked up. It's me, Sarutobi."

"Sarutobi sensei?" He looked around, forgetting that Tsunade had left to study and Orochimaru was in the bath soaking, "Did you need something?"

"I just wanted to inform you that tomorrow I'll be coming over to inspect your living conditions and making sure everything is alright where you three are currently residing."

"What!" Jiraiya was sweating bullets, if Sarutobi figured out how they were living, he'd make them move in with him. Being twenty seven and having your adoptive parent/former grade school teacher baby you was not something that would do well for their self confidence.

"Jiraiya, what's the matter?" Orochimaru yelled from out of the bathroom. The sound of swishing could be heard. He was done with his bath and was filling buckets up with water. Jiraiya had to end this call quick.

"Nothing, go back to your bath!"

"Jiraiya, is that Tsunade?" Sarutobi asked

"N-no. Tsunade…" quick, think of a lie! "She went out with her girlfriends and wont be back for a few hours!"

"Oh, well I am glad she is having a social life and isn't cooped up inside that library. Really, you would think that being a medical major she would know that it's good to be a little social at times."

"Y-yeah. So, what time did you say you were coming over?"

He laughed, "I'm not telling." Bloody hell!

"W-well, you know Sarutobi sensei, you don't have to come over to inspect us, we can take care of ourselves!" He noticed Orochimaru walking over to him in his purple robe around him and his hair up in a messy bun, "Right, Oro!"

"What?" He replied in confusion.

"We can take care of ourselves!" Jiraiya had a face splitting grin on his face and was winking at Orochimaru like a mad man.

"Uhm, yes of course we can." He said, catching onto Jiraiya's ruse.

"Hear that, Saru? We can take care of ourselves, no need to check up on us-hello?"

Jiraiya's reply was the telephone's beeping, signalizing that Sarutobi had hung up on him. Seems as if the aging man had already made up his mind and was going to come over anyway. That means, they had to stay clean the apartment up as much as they can so as to pass the inspection. If they don't, Sarutobi would drag the three of them out, and force them to live with him until they were financially stable, had their degrees obtained, and could find appropriate housing.

Jiraiya scratched the back of his neck and Orochimaru combed his hair. What were they going to do? There was no place for them to set anything down, because every corner of the house was occupied with text books. The carpet needed a good cleaning, but they couldn't afford a vacuum cleaner, the windows needed a good wiping, they could do that with soap and water. There was just so much that they needed to do in order to please the old man. He had high standards, and he refused to settle for less with his three students.

"Well, what should we do?" Orochimaru had asked Jiraiya, not even knowing himself.

"What else should we do? We start cleaning!" He walked over to the closet that was out in the hallway, and got two brooms. "Since we can't afford a damn vacuum cleaner, we'll just have to sweep up what we can."

Jiraiya ran into the bathroom, getting a bucket of water that was sloshing over the rim, "The windows need washing and does the stove." He looked around, everything needed to be cleaned, really. "Tsunade can handle the laundry, you can help her once you've finished with the stove and windows whenever she gets back."

"What will you do?" Orochimaru said as he held the bucket of water that Jiraiya had given him.

"I'm going to fix the leak in the ceiling that you've been complaining about for months, and then I'm going to see if I can fix the faucet in the bathroom, see if we can save any hot water."

"You wait until impending doom to fix the things I've been telling you about for months?"

Jiraiya laughed, scratching the back of his head, "Yeah, pretty much!"

Orochimaru shook his head, then went off to go wash the windows that were littered with bird poop, dead bugs, and graffiti that had somehow been painted on there.

"Ok, while Oro does that, I'm going to call the Library and pray that Tsunade is there." Jiraiya said to himself. This was not going to be a pretty conversation with Tsunade that he was about to experience.

A/N: This came to mind when I watched the movie Tales of Earthsea. It's a great movie, and I highly recommend you people watch it if you haven't seen it. How that wonderful movie compares to this fan fiction, I have little to no idea. I just felt like writing a JiraOro when I finished it, haha. I hope you all liked it. Please, review if you really want to.


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